Companies have good reasons for acquiring franchise brands. Often they see potential in a brand and hope to use their own resources to build it into a national contender.
Many brands, though, need a healthy dose of TLC after acquisition. And some companies have found that a good rebranding can...

In the restaurant industry, 60 percent of frontline managers are women. From the perspective of the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), the figure signifies considerable progress since the organization was founded in 1989. Moving up the corporate ladder, only 15 percent of women hold leadership roles...

Though U.S. consumption is well below other proteins today, seafood will likely be an increasingly important part of the American diet in the years to come. The country’s population is predicted to grow by 89 million between 2010 and 2050 to 401 million people. More people require more food—and...

This month soft-serve monarch Dairy Queen turns 75. At its 10th anniversary, the company boasted more than 1,000 open and planned stores. Today, Dairy Queen counts more than 6,000 locations across 20 countries.
At a time when many established brands are struggling with an identity crisis, Dairy...

At JJ’s Red Hots in Charlotte, North Carolina, the hot dog is big business. The two-year-old eatery in the historic Dilworth neighborhood serves up hundreds of charbroiled Sahlen’s smokehouse dogs on toasted potato rolls daily.
While customers can build their own creations, JJ’s menu features a...

As sensory experiences go—the ones we can write about in a respectable, professional publication, at least—it’s hard to top the consumption of sweets when it comes to absolute primal pleasure.
“The moment sugar touches your mouth, a complex cascade of events is triggered involving taste, learning,...

The chief executive officer is often the face of a brand. And when the time comes for a new leader to assume the role, experts say, an efficient succession plan can help establish a smooth transition and reassure employees that all is well with the brand.
In its first-ever succession, Elevation...

What are some of the trends you’re seeing in the dessert space today?
The smaller, bite-sized portions, or the flights or the samplers, are a trend in order for people to have portion control, to have variety, to try different things on the menu. I think some of the flavors that are still more...

Magic sort of loses its luster with age. Rarely does one find the right occasion to use the term magical as an adult—after a first date, perhaps, or to describe an experience at a concert or a vacation. There is one place, though, where—by design—the magic never seems to die. Walt...

Quick-service operators looking for external financial support often find an attractive option in private equity firms. But finding the right partner takes effort, research, and a little bit of soul searching.

Colleagues and industry contacts are good places to start when considering...

It was another late night last fall at the LivingSocial office in Washington, D.C., and Alan Clifford and Ian Costello were hungry. As vice presidents of customer relationship management and product development, respectively, the two were often burning the midnight oil and coming upon the same...

Having spent three decades helping franchisees evaluate prospective investments, Terry Powell has noticed a monumental shift in the industry. The days of franchisees signing on the dotted line with little more than a review of the royalties, franchise fee, and total investment have largely...

Perhaps best known for cofounding America Online (AOL) and later serving as its CEO, Steve Case has now turned his attention to foodservice. Like many tech innovators, he sees great potential to “disrupt” the system through technology and a tech mindset.

As most of the food industry knows, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced an extension to the rule released last year requiring that restaurant chains and retailers provide customers with calorie counts on available food and beverages by December 1, 2015.Now restaurants have an e

The minimum wage is on the mind of most quick-service operators today, especially as many states and cities pass regulations that bump the minimum wage upward.But when Moo Cluck Moo founder Brian Parker and his team first sat down to discuss employee pay, he says, the minimum wage wasn’t even

Q: Should our restaurant offer delivery service?A: These days, everyone seems to be doing delivery, right? Starbucks, Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell are some of the big chains that have recently announced tests or rollouts of delivery service.